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No, sorry, that was put sort of weird... I meant that Fenrir Greyback has somewhat "fathered" Bill's wolfish trait, and maybe as Greyback's main trait is his hunger for raw meat, that's what somehow transferred to Bill, too. To make a connection between Bill and Teddy, I had to say "father", I didn't mean Greyback's father

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Still, though, I think that may have been something in the venom (for lack of a better word). I think that maybe if Remus had bitten Tonks or Teddy while he was not transformed, the same thing would have happened, but I don't think that it would actually affect DNA.

It's open to interpretation, though. Teddy could have a liking for raw meat, but I'm not sure it would go much further than that.

Maybe, knowing about his father's condition and how it affected his life so much, he's really fascinated with wolfes. I can even see him talking himself into having wolfish traits (like, imagining having a better sense of smell etc). That would actually be quite fun to write...

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I tend to think of people who have been bitten by a werewolf to have a type of venom in them, which remains int heir bloodstream, but does not actually affect their genetic make-up.

I don't think this is true. His genetic structure was affected. How else do you explain Jo saying that Remus does become visibly hairier once a month? Normal humans don't have excessive hair growth once a month.

Originally Posted by Karaley Dargen

Unfortunately we never find out if he does, because I think these would be the features Teddy would get, too. Being attacked by a werewolf, though he isn't transformed in my opinion would have the same results as being the son of a werewolf (now assuming that the werewolf wasn't transformed during the conception - this sounds disgusting... anyway, I think in that case there'd be some serious problems, some visible wolfish features etc in the child).

Jo said, Remus's affliction is a metaphor for HIV. Is it just a metaphor then? If it isn't just used it as such, this would explain to a lot extent Remus's concern and desperateness at acknowledging that Tonks was pregnant. In my country, people still think HIV is contagious through touch. People with HIV are isolated out of fear that others with contract it. In the Marauder Era, the fact that Remus would not be able to keep a permanent job, to me at least, expresses reactions based on similar believes.

Coming back to Teddy, I think that Remus was fearful that Teddy would be a werewolf too.

As far as wolfish features are concerned, I don't think Remus has any wolfish features. It's just him getting hairier close to the full moon. Bill was attacked I guess by Greyback's claws (werewolf have claws? ) and that explains his scars. Greyback would not have mutilated Remus when he bit him, because Remus being as young as he was, would have certainly died from it. As we all know, Greyback had a rather different motive in mind.

Originally Posted by Evie

As it transpired, Teddy was not a werewolf, so we can more or less assume it did not affect his DNA.

Tom Riddle does say something about Hagrid keeping 'werewolf cubs' under the bed. Was he just exaggerating?

My opinion, for what it's worth, was that Remus was terrified because he simply didn't know what his son would be. He says to Harry 'My kind don't breed!' There's no cure and precious little research, which is why werewolves are made to feel like outsiders. If the Ministry cared enough, they would make Wolfsbane available to them.

I do think it's likely that Teddy inherited some traits from his dad, but what traits did Remus have? Did he have a fondness for raw meat? I don't remember reading that. He got tired before a full moon (scene in SWM) so we can hazard a guess that he was unable to sleep well in the week or so when the moon was waxing.

Basically, I think you have a free rein with this. I've seen fics where all Teddy seems to have inherited from Remus are his eyes and reserved manner - everything else is pure Tonks. Then again, I've seen clumsy Teddy who suddenly becomes agile at the full moon.

Originally Posted by Evie
As it transpired, Teddy was not a werewolf, so we can more or less assume it did not affect his DNA.

Because, as Equinox Chick said, there probably aren't any known causes in the wizarding world of werewolves that had children. Just because Rowling says so doesn't mean it's common knowledge in the wizarding world. I mean, how would they know, if it never happened?
Werewolves are outcasts, many violent, and they aren't that common in general. And if a werewolf had a child, how would the world know about it unless they wrote a book about it?

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I don't think it makes him foolish, I think it was just lack of knowledge. I don't think anything like that had happened before.

I don't think this is true. His genetic structure was affected. How else do you explain Jo saying that Remus does become visibly hairier once a month? Normal humans don't have excessive hair growth once a month.

Magic. Seriously, though, I think that although technically it would require a change of the genetic structure, I think it highly unlikely that every single spell or potion which changes someone's appearence in any way shape or form actually affects their genetic structure. To me, that sounds liek a very complex thing to do, and many simple or accidental spells change characters apperences, maybe not drastically, but change them in a way, and Polyjuice potion, which I think does change genetic make-up, is incredibly complex and only short-lived. I think it is perfectly within reason to suggest that lycanthropy does affect genes, but also within reason to suggest it doesn't. It happens to be my belief that it doesn't, but that's only going with my reasoning above, and the interviews which Jo has given which state that Teddy is not a werewolf.

Rowling did say in an interview that Teddy isn't a werewolf, and that lycanthropy isn't passed on from father to son.

Though that does make Remus look kind of foolish -- how could he grow up as a werewolf and never learn such basic facts about his condition?

I believe in the books Remus chalks his uncertainty up to the fact that werewolves don't reproduce very often, at least in the 'having babies' sense (given the infectious nature of their kind.) It's possible that he'd never met another werewolf who'd had children and therefore had nothing to base his ideas on.